How does risk tolerance change with age?

Self-reported risk tolerance falls steadily across adulthood. In a German panel of over 40,000 people it declined almost linearly from the 20s to the 60s and then levelled off, after netting out period effects. The drop is sharpest for physical risk. Tolerance for social and career risk holds up better with age.

Source: Dohmen, Falk, Golsteyn, Huffman & Sunde (2017), Economic Journal; Josef et al. (2016), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology